Speech Therapy Activities: The start of a year is a great time for families and educators to feel happy and excited, about what is to come. For kids those who are working on talking and communicating with others this is a good time to start new things that will help them get better.
New things to work on can be really fun. When kids do small things right it feels like a big deal. People can make learning feel like an adventure, not something they have to do.
When kids are playing and talking to people every day they are more likely to want to join in practice what they are learning and get better at speech and language development.
Speech and language skills are really important for kids. They help kids tell people what they need make friends and do what they are told. Some kids pick up these skills on their own. Other kids need a little help at home or when they see a therapist.
When kids do fun things like play games that’re just right for their age it can really help them get better at talking and listening. If we make it fun like with a New Year theme kids will use their imagination. Think about what they did last year. This is a way to get kids to try new words and sounds. Speech and language skills are something that kids can work on and get better, at and a New Year theme is a way to do it.
The New Year is a time for parents and caregivers and therapists to think about how they can help kids with speech and language practice. They can use the New Year as a way to make speech and language practice fun. For example they can play games that help kids set goals. They can also tell stories. Play games that focus on sounds. The New Year is a time to try these things because they can help kids feel more confident when they talk. These activities are important because they help kids learn how to communicate which is a big part of the New Year speech and language practice.
Why the New Year Is a Powerful Time for Language Development
Kids really notice when things are different or new. The New Year is a deal because it has all of that. We decorate the house use calendars have parties and talk about what is coming up next. All of these things help kids learn words and ways of talking.
The New Year is also a time when we think about what happened year and what we want to happen this year. This helps kids learn how to put things in order describe what they think and feel guess what might happen next and say how they are feeling. The New Year is a time for kids to practice these important language skills, like sequencing and describing and predicting and expressing their emotions.
The idea of a start is really great for kids who have trouble talking. It is nice because it does not focus on what they did wrong. The New Year makes learning feel like something exciting. This makes it easier for kids to want to try or practice some more or even try to make a new sound because it feels like they are starting something new. The New Year is like a start for these kids and that is really helpful, for them.
During the holiday season families usually spend a lot of time together. The holiday season is a time when families spend time together. This is when the kids see their family members talking to each other. They can learn how to talk by listening to their family members. The holiday season is a time for kids to practice talking and they can do this by talking to their family members. They can also learn things when they talk to their family members during the holiday season.
Speech Therapy Activities for Building New-Year-Themed Vocabulary
A New Year is a time for change and celebrations. This is when we think about time and how we feel. We can explain these things to kids in a way that they can understand. For kids we can use easy words that talk about what we do, things we see and how we feel. For kids we can talk about things, like what we want to do, things we remember and things we plan to do.
I think a good idea is to make a New Year’s Word Box. You put some cards with pictures on them or little objects in a box. Then the child picks one out. You ask them to tell you what it is. They can say the name of the thing, tell you what it looks like or use it in a sentence. This New Year Word Box is great for helping kids talk better, learn words and make sentences. It is a way to help with expressive language, vocabulary expansion and sentence formulation all with the New Year Word Box.
Another idea is a “Word Countdown”. It is like when we count down to New Year. The kids say a word or a phrase they want to learn over as they count down from ten. Saying the word many times helps the kids feel more confident. It also helps them say the word correctly. The kids, like this activity because it is fun. They know what to expect. The “Word Countdown” is a way to make learning fun for the kids. They get to practice saying the target word times.
Encouraging Goal Setting Through Language
Setting goals is a thing to do in life and it can also help kids talk and understand language better. When it comes to kids their goals should be easy to understand. They should be about good things. Do not focus on what the kids cannot do instead tell them what they are trying to achieve. Setting goals is important, for kids. It can help them with their speech and language development.
Let us start with a conversation about the year. We should ask the kids things like what did they like learning about the year or what was something new they tried during the past year. These kinds of questions are really good because they help the kids think about what they want to say and get their thoughts in order. The past year is what we are talking about. If we use pictures or drawings this can be a help, for kids who have a hard time saying what they want to say. The past year is what we want to talk about with the kids.
Next you need to help the child set a goal for talking to other people. This goal could be to use sentences try out new words or talk to friends in a stronger voice. When you write down the goal or draw a picture together the child will understand it better. Feel like it is really theirs. You should check on these goals a lot to help the child remember things put them in order and say what they mean with language.
Sound and Articulation Practice With a Fresh Twist
Practicing how to say words correctly does not have to be boring. When it is a New Year therapists and parents can make the usual practice exercises feel new and exciting for kids. Practicing sounds can be made fun by doing crafts moving around and playing games that keep children in speech practice and sound practice. This way kids will stay engaged. Have fun with speech practice and sound practice.
For example you can make a Fireworks Sound Show. When a child says a target sound the way they get to add a sticker draw a line or put a piece of colored paper on a page to make a firework picture. The Fireworks Sound Show is a way to help children stay focused. It is also a way to celebrate when children do something well with the Fireworks Sound Show.
We have another thing we can do with kids. It is called a “Resolution Wheel”. We take a circle. Divide it into parts. Each part has a word that the child is trying to say. The child spins the “Resolution Wheel”. Then they have to say the word they landed on. They might have to use the word in a sentence or tell us where they hear the sound in the word. Does the sound come at the beginning or in the middle or, at the end of the word? This really helps the child with “Resolution Wheel” to know how sounds work and say words correctly. The child gets better at saying the “Resolution Wheel” words because they practice with the “Resolution Wheel”.
Supporting Receptive Language Through Listening Games
When we talk about language skills we are talking about receptive language skills. Receptive language skills are all, about understanding words and instructions and questions.
The New Year is a time to practice receptive language skills. We can do this with games that help us listen and follow directions and then respond to these directions in a way.
You can try something called a New Year Directions Game with the child. This game is pretty fun. Give the child instructions that have steps. For example you can say “Draw a star color the star blue and finally write your name next to the star.”
Start with instructions that only have one step. As the child gets better at following the instructions you can make the instructions harder by adding steps to the New Year Directions Game.
Listening to stories is a way to learn. You can read a story about New Year to the students and then ask them some questions about it. The questions can be about what happened in the New Year story like “Who was in the New Year story?”. They can be about what the students think, like “Why do you think the character, in the New Year story felt excited?” This helps the students pay attention remember things and understand how the New Year story is put together.
Using Storytelling to Build Expressive Language
Storytelling is a way to help kids develop their language skills. It helps them learn how to express themselves use grammar and put their thoughts in order. When we talk about New Year it gets kids talking about what they did and what they want to do next. This helps them think about what they want to say and find the words to say it. Storytelling about New Year is really good, for kids because it makes them think about their experiences and future plans. They have to organize their thoughts and use words to tell their story.
The kids get to make a book called “My Year”. They can have one page, for each month.. They can draw a picture of something they really liked that happened. They can also draw something they want to happen. The kids can then tell someone about their picture. Write it down. It depends on how they can write and talk. This is a way for the kids to practice telling stories and using language over and over.
Role-playing is another effective strategy.
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